Convince me we should support clough

[BeardedSaXon]

Unfortunately I think Clough still needs another season to really get his ideas across and only then will we see his thoughts manifest onto the football pitch...the problem we have is that we can't afford to spend another season in this shite division. We need the players to dig in and grow a pair for the last few games and show us they have fight in them.

UTB &FTP

 

[alcoblade]

Unfortunately I think Clough still needs another season to really get his ideas across and only then will we see his thoughts manifest onto the football pitch...the problem we have is that we can't afford to spend another season in this shite division. We need the players to dig in and grow a pair for the last few games and show us they have fight in them.

UTB &FTP

I could cope with another year of us being wank if we weren't so dull. I'm past the point of expecting that to change.

UTB

 

[Dkc]

Can't help wondering what Uncle Neil would have done with the resources put at Clough's disposal, and his connections at QPR, Palace etc

 

[mark hones]

Well stop wondering, Warnock's a distant memory thank fuck. By all means question Clough the way the season's gone but please let's not get ridiculous.

 

[Borbokisfreekick]

Can't help wondering what Uncle Neil would have done with the resources put at Clough's disposal, and his connections at QPR, Palace etc

Mmmm let me think...spend 1.5M on Akinbiyi, 1.5M on Horsefield, 1M on Luton Shelton, 600K on Ahmdi Fathi. When Warnock did have money he threw it away.

I'm not knocking what Warnock did for us, but spending money wasn't one of his strong points.

 

[Borbokisfreekick]

I have been saying for a while we are going nowhere with Nigel clough as manager. Loads of derby fans I know said when he took over he was one dimensional, no plan b , negative, had favourites who he had to play etcetc

I am not sure changing manager is the answer but can anyone make the case for a good future with NC ...

Genuine Question

Why should we support Clough?? Because he's our manager and in the 18 months in charge has brought us some pretty good memories and is currently in 5th place in the league, but going through a rough patch. The very definition of support would indicate helping, or god forbid, "supporting" someone through a rough patch. In his relatively short amount of time with us he should at least deserve that, and to be allowed to see the season out.

Unfortunately, some of our fans appear to have just about tipped past the point of no return, and are now more focused on dragging him down and pushing him out then supporting him.

Oh well, they'll have a new lamb to slaughter once Clough is gone....and another one probably about 18 months after that once they drive out Clough's successor.

I reckon the managers job at the Lane will be about as appealing as the Newcastle job once Clough leaves.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Not being able to get to matches live recently (only watched them on BP) I haven't been able to get the sense of the player's moods but the general impression I am getting is that there is a growing sense of lack of belief and loss of confidence. Am I right in thinking this? If I am does this suggest that NC and co are beginning to lose the dressing room. That would be worrying if that was the case.

Can't help wondering what Uncle Neil would have done with the resources put at Clough's disposal, and his connections at QPR, Palace etc

He could buy a third division equivalent of Chrstian Nade, Luton Shelton. Not what is needed.

 

[Gavlar]

Nigel Adkins is available...

Look what he did with Southampton, who were in exactly the same hole a few years ago

And look what he did with Reading after that.

 

[Bladesway]

He could buy a third division equivalent of Chrstian Nade, Luton Shelton. Not what is needed.

We need Clint Hill.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

I think the players on the pitch need to look at themselves just as much as NC.

The tactics weren't negative today and the team had a decent balance. Aside from bringing a centre half in this week i'm not sure what more Clough could have done with the selection and formation today. A number of players are under performing and letting him down.

Agree and well balanced . But we are in a results business with a big squad . Centre back position was the problem yesterday , but we are still not commanding midfield and taking our chances, Clough picks the team .

Too many under performing and too little over performing . Will it change - No.

UTB

 

[Erad]

And look what he did with Reading after that.

Reading was a different situation. Adkins understands our league, our situation, our youth focus, our supposed playing style philosophy, it's exactly the same as the Southampton of a few years back. He thrived in that environment and won two promotions playing attractive football with young promising talent.

I don't advocate sacking Clough at this stage of the season, but if it meant we could secure Adkins before he goes elsewhere then I think it's too good an opportunity to miss

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

At what point is less than a complete season showing any patience whatsoever. Fuck me some people get lost in their own agenda so much they appear to think the bloke has had forever.

If we don't go up this season then questions should be asked. Until then we should shut up talking bollocks about sacking managers at a ridiculous point of the season and get on with it. End of season is the time for shit slinging. Right now people asking for the managers head are serving no positive purpose 10 games from the end of a season.

Bladesway , we don't sack the manager . We want / need to go forward not backwards .

Postmortem will be carried out by the board and fans if we don't achieve promotion. The annoying thing about all this is that the players we need to fill certain positions on the pitch , has not been fully resolved . If this had been sorted out , we wouldn't even be having this debate , and the talk would be about Clough the genius.

In saying all that performances have not been good enough .

UTB

 

[bladesadviser]

The problem with managers is that when some of the names that are mentioned on here were appointed they were not even managers so there would have have been meltdown on here if we had appointed them
Take Adkins for example, when he was appointed manager of Scunthorpe I believe he was the physio and was promoted from within. Equally Lee Johnson if NC had left the Blades 5 weeks ago and Lee Johnson had been appointed we all(me included) would have self combusted over "lack of ambition". Steve Evans is another that we would have dismissed as a poor choice even after Rotherham won promotion
I don't know the answer I just think we have stick with Clough for the rest of the season and even if we don't go up probably until Christmas

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

A few points which, for me, are in Clough's favour:

• Passing football - I like the fact that we do get it down and play
• He is emphatically not one-dimensional: egs (1) after dominating possession but without much end product told the players to get the ball forward quicker, they did. (2) has tried 4-4-2 - it doesn't really suit our squad (3) has won ugly - away at Rochdale (4) several of Bergen Blade's tactical analyses which show how we switch formations within games (modern football) (5) the experiment of trying to catch Coventry unaware after half time by coming out and having a go at them (backfired - but well worth a try)
• Negative? See above - trying to attack with 10 men
• Does respond positively to setbacks (see above)
• Acknowledges faults eg comments in interviews and changes relating to eg set pieces - and plenty of other things
• Is not arrogant - see all of the above (this accusation is utterly baffling to me)
• Players play without fear in big (cup) games. If we get into the play-offs I wonder if he can conjure up this fearlessness again.
• Besides all that he's a really decent person (I know this doesn't win games but I had to include it bc to me it stands out.)

There are others.

I really like what Clough is doing.

If we're languishing mid-table next season it might be time for a change but till then I fully support what he's doing.

Generally agree with all that.

Struggle to defend the pre - season, what was all that about?
Time to sort out the CF issue, although Ched being a possibility might have tied his hands slightly but Jan should have seen it sorted.

He's taken us from relegation fodder to play off candidates. Like most on here I think we should go up automatically and struggle with paitence on that, at the end of the day it's results that count.

This is his first full season and he has taken us from relegation to play offs, we can't blame him for Wilson and Weir failing, 3/4 of the time spent in this division has nothing to do with Clough.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Can't help wondering what Uncle Neil would have done with the resources put at Clough's disposal, and his connections at QPR, Palace etc

He might have brought in a CH who didn't train with us and turned up on the morning of the game?

 

[raul]

He'd done all that last season though Grumpy. This season, we've ground out results that see us no further forward and in terms of how attractive we are to watch you can't argue that we've gone backwards. There's a lot of talk about "building something" and" three year plans", well the only way you
do either of those is by winning enough football matches. Right now - and it couldn't have come at a worse time, both on the field as we enter the home straight or off the field when the club will be trying to punt next years ST's - he isn't.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Reading was a different situation. Adkins understands our league, our situation, our youth focus, our supposed playing style philosophy, it's exactly the same as the Southampton of a few years back. He thrived in that environment and won two promotions playing attractive football with young promising talent.

I don't advocate sacking Clough at this stage of the season, but if it meant we could secure Adkins before he goes elsewhere then I think it's too good an opportunity to miss

Slight difference between our squad and Southamptons, many of the Southampton squad developed into Premiership players and some have established themselves as full internationals.

We've got Reedy.

Then again it's all Nigel's fault.

 

[blade too long]

Slight difference between our squad and Southamptons, many of the Southampton squad developed into Premiership players and some have established themselves as full internationals.

We've got Reedy.

Then again it's all Nigel's fault.

too early to say how many of our current squad will go on to become good ,
Theres a lot of young players in our squad , they are learning on the job , its been disappointing not thrashing every shit side in this division , but it never happens, even bristol city lose to shit sides , they lost to us as most say we are shit .
We are rebuilding from grossly dr.oss going nowhere club , it never happens over night , took bristol city 3 years with investment , we are in our first season with a bit of backing again ,
Cloughs made progress , obviously some blades think we should be 20 points clear already , on what they base this I dont have a clue , good attendances get you no points at all .
I dont care if we scrape luckily intoo the play offs so long as we get a 1 in 4 chance to go up , finishing 3rd wont make us have a better chance than finishing 6th , we just need to snag a place then win 3 games when it matters,nothing else


I think it needs someone to give a solid reason why we shouldnt support Clough , we are iin the top 6 with enough winnable games to make the play offs ,but to slag off everyone and cause further disruption would help no one , save criticism for when we fail totally , not during the job in hand .

 

[Blade82]

And look what he did with Reading after that.

Do you always judge every manager by his last job or look at the bigger picture and their
record overall? Adkins is shit now though and his 4 promotions (Inc a LG1 playoff final win) and a JPT trophy win count for nothing.

On paper theres no better candidate for a lg1 managers role.

 

[Blade82]

Slight difference between our squad and Southamptons, many of the Southampton squad developed into Premiership players and some have established themselves as full internationals.

We've got Reedy.

Then again it's all Nigel's fault.

So Adkins gets no credit at all for what happend to Southampton? Look at some of the signings he made, they've helped Southampton become an established and exciting premier league side.

How about Scunthorpe then? Play off final winner too with them, suppose that wasn't his doing though?

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

So Adkins gets no credit at all for what happend to Southampton? Look at some of the signings he made, they've helped Southampton become an established and exciting premier league side.

How about Scunthorpe then? Play off final winner too with them, suppose that wasn't his doing though?

Not taking any thing away from Adkins just pointing out that the Southampton squad of that time was a very different beast to the Sheffield United squad of the present.

This time around with this manager we will need time, something a result based industry is in short supply of, that's the nature of the beast.

For once I'm trying my best to buy into it. Hope I'm not wrong but things do seem different at SUFC these days.

 

[Blade82]

Not taking any thing away from Adkins just pointing out that the Southampton squad of that time was a very different beast to the Sheffield United squad of the present.

This time around with this manager we will need time, something a result based industry is in short supply of, that's the nature of the beast.

For once I'm trying my best to buy into it. Hope I'm not wrong but things do seem different at SUFC these days.

I think the foundations are in place here though grumps. Howard, brayford, Harris, reed, Murphy, done. All could do a very decent job in the championship and form the basis of a very solid first XI. Add to that baxter, Doyle, Flynn, basham and a few others who could make step us as 'squad players' who all have not looked out of place
against higher placed teams in the cups. We just need someone to pick up the baton now from Nigel and take us on after he's helped rebuild and mould us, similar to what is happening at burton and Derby.

I'd love him to prove me wrong by the way, I'm not anti clough, just want the best for us in the quickest possible time.

 

[alcoblade]

Steve Evans is another that we would have dismissed as a poor choice even after Rotherham won promotion

This is true, and it's where fans have to learn the lesson of half a decade in the third division - the worst spell in the club's history. We have to put winning at the top of the list, an go for someone who has proved they know how to do it

Next time, hopefully we'll have served our Warnock penance and we can throw off the silly constraints we place on the choice of manager. That, and put emphasis on getting someone who isn't unemployed - or at least not restricted to that.

We've just blown £2,000,000 on someone to fill a third division fullback position. We wouldn't dream of paying a third of that in compensation for a manager. That has to change.

UTB

 

[BushBlade]

I think, with the benefit of hindsight, we (myself included) underestimated the size of the job Clough faces.
When we went down there was a general consensus that we were flailing around in the dark, without any identity or philosophy, switching from Blackwell hoof to Speed slow build up to Adams god knows what that was.
A large number of supporters, including the vocal ones who attended the forums, wanted us to be more like Swansea, to go up through the leagues playing passing football. For the club to be rebuilt on stronger foundations.

Unfortunately, for reasons that belong in another thread, we didn't rebuild. Dw1 kept a core of players that were mainly top end of the championship level and used them to play good football. What he didn't do, is build below this enough. In terms of building, which translates as bringing in good young players to provide a supply line for the future, he signed KM, Murphy, Flynn and Blackman.
Once we failed to go up, we lost most of our good players and replaced them with short term veterans like Kitson and Robson. When we again failed to go up, they went and we were left with very little. You could argue that our only good players were KM and Harry; Murphy and Flynn had yet to show their quality, Collins and Doyle solid but no more than that. The rest, slightly above average L1 players.

When Dw2 took over we had to seriously rebuild not just the squad but the first team. We barely had a first eleven of senior players and certainly not one good enough to mount a serious challenge. Weir's rebuilding was poor and hampered further by the late sale of KM. He gave us the worst team I have ever seen at the Lane.

When Clough came in, he worked a minor miracle and most of us thought we'd found the new Bassett. We assumed he'd work another miracle and we'd piss the league. Not an unreasonable assumption under the circumstances.
It hasn't happened. Our preseason seemed chaotic, exacerbated by the late loss of Harry, when it looked like he was staying, and the bizarre bust ups with Butler and Collins. Our recruitment appeared to be done on the cheap, backed up by comments from above about how we wouldn't spend big money until we got back into the Championship.
Clough has had to bring in a lot of players, for both the first team and squad, to make up for three years of neglect and bad management at all levels.

In simple terms, the more players you have to bring in, the higher the likelihood is of getting some of them wrong. So whilst a lot have been decent signings, we've also had the likes of Higdon and Butler, who haven't worked out.
What we do have is a squad that contains some solid pros, a bit of quality and a good number of young players that could develop into some real stars for us.
The JTW is the first time since relegation from the PL that a manager had been allowed to spend serious money (relative to the league we're in). The players haven't gelled properly yet, it happens in football, it doesn't mean they won't. Injuries and suspensions haven't helped.

Yes, Clough has made mistakes, all managers do. At the moment we look awful. But to allow him to spend the money he has and then to sack him six weeks later because it hasn't had an instant impact is fucking madness.

He has shown enough in the year and a bit he's been with us to demonstrate he is moving us in the right direction. It's to slow for a lot of supporters but I'm not convinced there are many who could have done it any quicker.

Sacking Clough now would deter other decent managers from joining us. Looking at the big picture, this season has been disappointing but nowhere near bad enough to warrant sacking the manager. It's not Clough's fault that we've been here for four seasons and that we've constantly sold our best players and replaced them with crap.

I honestly don't think we're that far away, nor do I think overall he's doing a bad job. At least give him the time to see it through.

 

[alcoblade]

I think, with the benefit of hindsight, we (myself included) underestimated the size of the job Clough faces.
When we went down there was a general consensus that we were flailing around in the dark, without any identity or philosophy, switching from Blackwell hoof to Speed slow build up to Adams god knows what that was.
A large number of supporters, including the vocal ones who attended the forums, wanted us to be more like Swansea, to go up through the leagues playing passing football. For the club to be rebuilt on stronger foundations.

Unfortunately, for reasons that belong in another thread, we didn't rebuild. Dw1 kept a core of players that were mainly top end of the championship level and used them to play good football. What he didn't do, is build below this enough. In terms of building, which translates as bringing in good young players to provide a supply line for the future, he signed KM, Murphy, Flynn and Blackman.
Once we failed to go up, we lost most of our good players and replaced them with short term veterans like Kitson and Robson. When we again failed to go up, they went and we were left with very little. You could argue that our only good players were KM and Harry; Murphy and Flynn had yet to show their quality, Collins and Doyle solid but no more than that. The rest, slightly above average L1 players.

When Dw2 took over we had to seriously rebuild not just the squad but the first team. We barely had a first eleven of senior players and certainly not one good enough to mount a serious challenge. Weir's rebuilding was poor and hampered further by the late sale of KM. He gave us the worst team I have ever seen at the Lane.

When Clough came in, he worked a minor miracle and most of us thought we'd found the new Bassett. We assumed he'd work another miracle and we'd piss the league. Not an unreasonable assumption under the circumstances.
It hasn't happened. Our preseason seemed chaotic, exacerbated by the late loss of Harry, when it looked like he was staying, and the bizarre bust ups with Butler and Collins. Our recruitment appeared to be done on the cheap, backed up by comments from above about how we wouldn't spend big money until we got back into the Championship.
Clough has had to bring in a lot of players, for both the first team and squad, to make up for three years of neglect and bad management at all levels.

In simple terms, the more players you have to bring in, the higher the likelihood is of getting some of them wrong. So whilst a lot have been decent signings, we've also had the likes of Higdon and Butler, who haven't worked out.
What we do have is a squad that contains some solid pros, a bit of quality and a good number of young players that could develop into some real stars for us.
The JTW is the first time since relegation from the PL that a manager had been allowed to spend serious money (relative to the league we're in). The players haven't gelled properly yet, it happens in football, it doesn't mean they won't. Injuries and suspensions haven't helped.

Yes, Clough has made mistakes, all managers do. At the moment we look awful. But to allow him to spend the money he has and then to sack him six weeks later because it hasn't had an instant impact is fucking madness.

He has shown enough in the year and a bit he's been with us to demonstrate he is moving us in the right direction. It's to slow for a lot of supporters but I'm not convinced there are many who could have done it any quicker.

Sacking Clough now would deter other decent managers from joining us. Looking at the big picture, this season has been disappointing but nowhere near bad enough to warrant sacking the manager. It's not Clough's fault that we've been here for four seasons and that we've constantly sold our best players and replaced them with crap.

I honestly don't think we're that far away, nor do I think overall he's doing a bad job. At least give him the time to see it through.

Good post.

The problem I have is that though I'm not sure how far away we are, I'm now fairly sure about the type of football Clough believes in. So the patience I should have is about giving time to build something I don't believe in.

Once you've accepted that football is a lifetime of shite for most clubs, you can at least hope to enjoy the way you try to achieve your goals. There's no evidence that he priorities winning games - first and foremost he prioritises avoiding defeat.

Its pretty difficult stuff to swallow when you're sat amongst 20,000 bored home fans, opposing the likes of Fleetwood and 50 away fans.

UTB

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

too early to say how many of our current squad will go on to become good ,
Theres a lot of young players in our squad , they are learning on the job , its been disappointing not thrashing every shit side in this division , but it never happens, even bristol city lose to shit sides , they lost to us as most say we are shit .
We are rebuilding from grossly dr.oss going nowhere club , it never happens over night , took bristol city 3 years with investment , we are in our first season with a bit of backing again ,
Cloughs made progress , obviously some blades think we should be 20 points clear already , on what they base this I dont have a clue , good attendances get you no points at all .
I dont care if we scrape luckily intoo the play offs so long as we get a 1 in 4 chance to go up , finishing 3rd wont make us have a better chance than finishing 6th , we just need to snag a place then win 3 games when it matters,nothing else


I think it needs someone to give a solid reason why we shouldnt support Clough , we are iin the top 6 with enough winnable games to make the play offs ,but to slag off everyone and cause further disruption would help no one , save criticism for when we fail totally , not during the job in hand .

Yes. Exactly.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

I think, with the benefit of hindsight, we (myself included) underestimated the size of the job Clough faces.
When we went down there was a general consensus that we were flailing around in the dark, without any identity or philosophy, switching from Blackwell hoof to Speed slow build up to Adams god knows what that was.
A large number of supporters, including the vocal ones who attended the forums, wanted us to be more like Swansea, to go up through the leagues playing passing football. For the club to be rebuilt on stronger foundations.

Unfortunately, for reasons that belong in another thread, we didn't rebuild. Dw1 kept a core of players that were mainly top end of the championship level and used them to play good football. What he didn't do, is build below this enough. In terms of building, which translates as bringing in good young players to provide a supply line for the future, he signed KM, Murphy, Flynn and Blackman.
Once we failed to go up, we lost most of our good players and replaced them with short term veterans like Kitson and Robson. When we again failed to go up, they went and we were left with very little. You could argue that our only good players were KM and Harry; Murphy and Flynn had yet to show their quality, Collins and Doyle solid but no more than that. The rest, slightly above average L1 players.

When Dw2 took over we had to seriously rebuild not just the squad but the first team. We barely had a first eleven of senior players and certainly not one good enough to mount a serious challenge. Weir's rebuilding was poor and hampered further by the late sale of KM. He gave us the worst team I have ever seen at the Lane.

When Clough came in, he worked a minor miracle and most of us thought we'd found the new Bassett. We assumed he'd work another miracle and we'd piss the league. Not an unreasonable assumption under the circumstances.
It hasn't happened. Our preseason seemed chaotic, exacerbated by the late loss of Harry, when it looked like he was staying, and the bizarre bust ups with Butler and Collins. Our recruitment appeared to be done on the cheap, backed up by comments from above about how we wouldn't spend big money until we got back into the Championship.
Clough has had to bring in a lot of players, for both the first team and squad, to make up for three years of neglect and bad management at all levels.

In simple terms, the more players you have to bring in, the higher the likelihood is of getting some of them wrong. So whilst a lot have been decent signings, we've also had the likes of Higdon and Butler, who haven't worked out.
What we do have is a squad that contains some solid pros, a bit of quality and a good number of young players that could develop into some real stars for us.
The JTW is the first time since relegation from the PL that a manager had been allowed to spend serious money (relative to the league we're in). The players haven't gelled properly yet, it happens in football, it doesn't mean they won't. Injuries and suspensions haven't helped.

Yes, Clough has made mistakes, all managers do. At the moment we look awful. But to allow him to spend the money he has and then to sack him six weeks later because it hasn't had an instant impact is fucking madness.

He has shown enough in the year and a bit he's been with us to demonstrate he is moving us in the right direction. It's to slow for a lot of supporters but I'm not convinced there are many who could have done it any quicker.

Sacking Clough now would deter other decent managers from joining us. Looking at the big picture, this season has been disappointing but nowhere near bad enough to warrant sacking the manager. It's not Clough's fault that we've been here for four seasons and that we've constantly sold our best players and replaced them with crap.

I honestly don't think we're that far away, nor do I think overall he's doing a bad job. At least give him the time to see it through.

Great post.

 

[BushBlade]

Good post.

The problem I have is that though I'm not sure how far away we are, I'm now fairly sure about the type of football Clough believes in. So the patience I should have is about giving time to build something I don't believe in.

Once you've accepted that football is a lifetime of shite for most clubs, you can at least hope to enjoy the way you try to achieve your goals. There's no evidence that he priorities winning games - first and foremost he prioritises avoiding defeat.

Its pretty difficult stuff to swallow when you're sat amongst 20,000 bored home fans, opposing the likes of Fleetwood and 50 away fans.

UTB

Can't argue with that. It's soul destroying watching clueless dross, just as it was at the beginning of last season under Weir and the season before that. Possibly even worse this time as we expected better, and with the added problem of potentially facing a fifth year in this division.

What I am clinging onto, is that things can quickly change. Liverpool this season is a good example. Or, for one in our division, Preston. It's taken the very experienced Larry longer than many expected but it looks like he might have cracked it.

I'm not so naive as to think changing managers is necessarily going to fail, sometimes it does work. Football often defies logic. But it's a gamble that I don't think we need to take yet. The club's recent gambles have tended to fail spectacularly and I'm tired of the shit or bust mentality. Now is just absolutely the wrong time to sack a manager. If we were mid table, maybe but he has to be given the chance to get us into the playoffs. And if he does, and it isn't a complete shambles, he should be given next season too. If he's properly backed and we're still shit, get rid. Then be prepared to pay good money for a good manager whose style suits our players and back him properly as well. That is the only way we can guarantee success. Cutting corners and doing things on the cheap will always be a risk. We could unearth the next Bassett or we could end up with the next Adams.

 

[sitwell]

Do you always judge every manager by his last job or look at the bigger picture and their
record overall? Adkins is shit now though and his 4 promotions (Inc a LG1 playoff final win) and a JPT trophy win count for nothing.

On paper theres no better candidate for a lg1 managers role.

Ian Holloway then ?

 

[alcoblade]

Can't argue with that. It's soul destroying watching clueless dross, just as it was at the beginning of last season under Weir and the season before that. Possibly even worse this time as we expected better, and with the added problem of potentially facing a fifth year in this division.

What I am clinging onto, is that things can quickly change. Liverpool this season is a good example. Or, for one in our division, Preston. It's taken the very experienced Larry longer than many expected but it looks like he might have cracked it.

I'm not so naive as to think changing managers is necessarily going to fail, sometimes it does work. Football often defies logic. But it's a gamble that I don't think we need to take yet. The club's recent gambles have tended to fail spectacularly and I'm tired of the shit or bust mentality. Now is just absolutely the wrong time to sack a manager. If we were mid table, maybe but he has to be given the chance to get us into the playoffs. And if he does, and it isn't a complete shambles, he should be given next season too. If he's properly backed and we're still shit, get rid. Then be prepared to pay good money for a good manager whose style suits our players and back him properly as well. That is the only way we can guarantee success. Cutting corners and doing things on the cheap will always be a risk. We could unearth the next Bassett or we could end up with the next Adams.

Yep, things could change quickly, as it has for the Dingles. And it could change back.

It might work sacking him now, it might not, I don't think we should. But he has to show some metal from here, more of the same will not do.

Should we fall away to a mid table finish and we could get someone like Adkins or Warburton, I'd sack him at the end of the season. Barring that, he should get until Christmas. I couldn't stomach another full season of this crap though.

Most fans still want it to work out for Clough, though far fewer still believe in him.. Let's hope he can pull it off.

UTB